Real Time Gaming Casino Software Review

Real Time Gaming software is fast, clear, and easy to use. The casinos themselves are generally good bonus givers, and with the fast play it is easy to get through the required play quickly. Most Real Time Gaming casinos are okay but there are some questionable one. One very generous bonus giver, Casino Merlin, went down in early 2002 and player accounts are likely lost. So choose which RTG casino to play carefully. One inconvenience is that you have to fax in a copy of your credit card and drivers license for a withdrawal of $500 or more. Table game limits are $5 to $500, slots and video poker take coinages from 5 cents to $5.

Note: Caribbean 21, Pontoon, Spanish 21, Double Exposure, and Super 21 are currently only offered at the Ruby Dragon casino.

Visit these fine Real Time Gaming Casinos

Baccarat

Tie pays 9 to 1, six decks of cards. House edge of 1.06% on banker bet, 1.24% on player bet, 4.93% on tie bet. The 5% commission on the banker bet is rounded down to the nearest quarter, so always bet in increments of $5 on the banker.

Blackjack

The default rules are as follows:

• Configurable number of decks
• Dealer hits soft 17
• Double on any first two cards
• Double after a split
• Split two times (to three hands)
• Dealer only peeks for blackjack with ace showing if player takes insurance

Real Time Gaming claims their default number of decks is 2. However I strongly believe most casinos that use their software opt for more than that. I have seen the same card three times on the screen at times. Other times I noticed the same card twice on the screen much more frequently than would be expected in a two deck game. Unfortunatley their rules never seen to state this important factor. Assuming four decks the house edge under their rules is 0.58%. For information on how to test for the number of decks please see my blackjack appendix 13.

In about September 2003 most Real Time Gaming casinos stopped peeking for blackjack with an ace showing, unless the player takes insurance. The original and not outdated Boss Media software also followed this rule. I know it will sound suspicious to some that a legtimate gambling writer would ever recommend the basic strategy player take insurance. However some online casino follow a rule probably never seen in a land casino where the dealer checks for blackjack only if the player takes insurance. In this case it is worth the expected loss on the insurance bet to be able to split aces safely against an ace. To make matters more confusing, if the RTG casino uses 1 or 2 decks the player should also take insurance before splitting eights or doubling on 11. If you still don't believe me then visit my Real Time gaming appendix 2, where I explain when and why to take insurance in more detail.

The following table displays the basic strategy for Real Time Gaming casinos. This table is based on 4 or more decks, which I believe to be true of most of their casinos. Besides, it is safer to use this strategy in a 2 deck game than vise versa. To use the basic strategy look up your hand along the left vertical edge and the dealer's up card along the top. In both cases an A stands for ace. From top to bottom are the hard totals, soft totals, and splittable hands. In the body of the chart are color coded cells that indicate the best play: H=hit, S=stand, D=double, P=split.

Key to Table

H

Hit

S

Stand

D

Double if allowed, otherwise hit

Ds

Double if allowed, otherwise stand

P

Split

Pi

Insure, then split

Caribbean Poker

This is the same game as Caribbean Stud Poker. The rules and the pay table are as usual. No side bet is available.

Caribbean 21

Caribbean 21 features a house edge of 0.19%. For all the rules and strategy visit my separate section on Caribbean 21.

Craps

Full double odds seems to be the default. Some casinos offer more. On the don't side the player can bet 2.4 times the line bet on points of 6 and 8 and 2 times on all others. A 4% commission is charged on all winning buy and lay bets, based on the amount won. They also offer place bets to lose with some unconventional pay offs, 2 to 5 on the 4 and 10, 3 to 5 on the 5 and 9, and only 9 to 20 on the 6 and 8. The following list shows the house edge on these bets. The game has convenient buttons to clear bets and repeat bets. Hot boxes help to place your bet in the right place. Winnings are rounded down to the nearest quarter.

• Combined pass/come and buyings odds: 0.57%
• Combined don't pass/don't come and laying odds: 0.56%
• Place to win on 4,10: 6.67%
• Place to win on 5,9: 4.00%
• Place to win on 6,8: 1.52%
• Place to lose on 4,10: 6.67%
• Place to lose on 5,9: 4.00%
• Place to lose on 6,8: 20.91% (ouch!)
• Buy on 4,10: 2.67%
• Buy on 5,9: 2.40%
• Buy on 6,8: 2.18%
• Lay on 4,10: 1.33%
• Lay on 5,9: 1.60%
• Lay on 6,8: 1.82%

Double Exposure

The usual rules are followed with these specifics:

• 8 decks
• Dealer hits soft 17
• Doubling allowed on hard 9-11 only
• Doubling allowed after splitting
• Split to 3 hands
• Tied blackjack wins
• Suited triple sevens against a dealer seven pays 40-1.

According to Stanford Wong's 'BJ Edge' software the house edge under these rules is 0.85%.

Keno

The game plays nicely with a button for a 10 spot quick pick. The following table shows the return according to the number of spots chosen.

Let 'Em Ride

This is another name for Let it Ride. The usual rules and pay table are used. A $1 progressive side bet is available. The side bet pays $50 for a flush, $75 for a full house, $100 for a four of a kind, 10% of the meter for a straight flush, and 100% of the meter for a royal flush. When I checked the meter was only at $1724.51, which results in a house edge of 76.46%! The meter would need to reach $263,205 for this side bet to have no house edge.

Pai Gow Poker

The dealer is always the banker, resulting in a house edge of about 2.86%.

Pontoon

Pontoon features a house edge of 0.17%. For all the rules and strategy visit my separate section on Pontoon.

Red Dog

The usual rules are followed. Two decks are used, which results in a house edge of 3.08%.

Roulette

A European and American wheel are available. The European wheel has one zero and the American has two. Neither offers half back on even money bets if the ball lands in zero. A button is available to repeat the last bets made.

Slots

The operator may select their own return on the slot machines.

Spanish 21

Standard Spanish 21 rules are followed with these specifics:

• 8 decks
• Dealer hits soft 17
• Suited triple sevens against a dealer seven pays 40-1.

The house edge is about 0.81% under these rules. For the correct strategy visit my section on Spanish 21.

Super 21

The follows the rules for Super Fun 21, except uses 8 decks instead of 1. At this time I do not know the house edge under an 8-deck game but my rough guess is 1.2%.

Tri-Card Poker

This is the same game as Three Card Poker with a stingier pay table. At most casinos they lowered the Pairplus payoff on a straight flush from 40-1 to 35-1, and lowered the three of a kind from 30-1 to 25-1. This increases the house edge from 2.32% to 4.58%. In Ante & Play the bonus on the straight flush went from 5-1 to 3-1 and the three of a kind went from 4-1 to 2-1, increasing the house edge from 3.37% to 4.28%.

The Grand Banks casino is a little better. They leave the straight flush at 40-1 in Pairplus for a house edge of 3.49%. In Ante&Play they pay 4-1 on a straight flush for a house edge of 3.83%. Otherwise the rules are the same as the other Real Time Gaming casinos.

Video Poker

Real Time Gaming has lots of video poker games to choose from. Each casino can select their own pay table but most accept the defaults as listed below. The following table shows the expected return of all of them with optimal strategy. Please visit my Real Time Gaming appendix for the probability tables for all these games.

War

Standard rules are used with one deck of cards. The house edge with one deck is 2.42% (less than the 2.88% with six decks).

For video poker tables see my Real Time Gaming appendix 1.

For why to take insurance with two aces against an ace see my Real Time Gaming appendix 2.